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Vega is cleared for its August 1 liftoff with the OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs Earth observation satellites

The 10th Vega mission from French Guiana has been authorized for liftoff tomorrow following completion of its launch readiness review, which was conducted today at the Spaceport.

This assessment – held prior to each flight of an Arianespace launcher family member – confirmed that the lightweight vehicle and its multi-passenger payload are flight-ready, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of downrange tracking stations.

Tomorrow’s mission is designated VV10 in Arianespace’s numbering system, and it will be performed from the Spaceport’s SLV launch site – where the Vega was assembled and now stands in a flight-ready configuration, protected by a mobile gantry that will be withdrawn prior to liftoff.

Flight VV10 will mark Arianespace’s eighth mission in 2017, and is the company’s second this year using a Vega launcher – which is one of three launch vehicles operated by Arianespace at the Spaceport, along with the medium-lift Soyuz and heavyweight Ariane 5. Vega’s production prime contractor is ELV, a company created by Avio and the Italian Space Agency.

A dual-passenger delivery for Vega

With today’s readiness review completed, all is set for the August 1 nighttime liftoff – set for precisely 10:58:33 p.m. local time at the Spaceport in French Guiana. The flight to Sun-synchronous orbit will last approximately one hour and 42 minutes from liftoff to separation of its two passengers.

To be deployed first during the mission to Sun-synchronous orbit is OPTSAT-3000 – an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Ministry of Defence. Built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) based on inter-governmental Italian-Israeli agreements, it will enable national defense entities to acquire and use high-resolution images from any part of the globe. The OPTSAT-3000 system was supplied by Telespazio as prime contractor, which has responsibility for the entire system; while OHB Italia is responsible for the launch services and related engineering support.

Riding in the lower payload position on Vega is Venµs, an Earth observation and exploratory mission for the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and France’s CNES space agency at the benefit of the Israeli Ministry of Science & Technology. It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries’ Space Division, with Rafael providing the propulsion system.